Paradigm Shift/transcript-backup
: voiceover Mars had been a colony for a long time, and it was filled with the best scientists and technologists humanity had to offer. We were ready to govern ourselves and start a new nation of our own, but everything we built, or mined or made, was still the property of old Mother Earth. I was a fusion-drive engineer. My wife, Caty, wanted to start having babies, like all good Martians do, but I convinced her that we should buy a second-hand yacht for me to tinker around with instead. She liked to indulge me. I'd been modifying the engine to boost fuel efficiency. I wasn't expecting much, maybe four percent better, tops, and I was taking it out for a test run....My name's Solomon Epstein. And I changed everything. :_____________________________________________________________ :Colonel : The consensus, is that Eros was a test of a new Martian zero-inertia drive. They've been pumping R&D into that project for over a decade. It's the single most plausible explanation. It is, of course, possible that it was something else. Like a massive relativistic field generator o ... : : Or some other bunch of science words you string together? :Colonel : The one thing we do understand is that Eros was a wake-up call. Whatever it was, it's clearly the greatest technological leap - since the Epstein Drive. And if it is a weapon, given the depleted state of our missiles, it's a weapon that will conclusively tilt the balance of power in favor of Mars. :_____________________________________________________________ : : Where are we on the impact site mission? :Colonel :We've commandeered a civilian survey vessel and are refitting it with our best sensors and probes. We're also reinforcing the hull to allow us to get closer to the surface. If there's anything left of Eros down there, we'll find it. We'll be on our way to Venus in a week. : : I'll expect regular updates from you personally. :Colonel : Understood, sir. : : Next on our list of shit, we need to clean up. One hundred and fifty missiles we launched. :United Nations Advisor: So far, sir, we've confirmed abort on 121 missiles. Tracking has been very difficult, but we're confident we'll be able to account for all the rest in short order. :_______________________________________________________________ : : voiceover Way better than I ever expected. Fuel efficiency was through the roof. A hundred times better than anyone had even thought possible. A once-in-a-generation breakthrough. And that was the whole problem. See, a high-G burn hurts like hell. I felt like someone was standing on my chest. It was getting harder for me to breathe or talk. Shut down main drive. Not that talking would have made any difference. The acceleration was making my body so damn heavy, it was getting hard to even move. Oh, that was bad enough, but it wasn't the worst part. Because the most dangerous thing about being in a high-G burn is that if it goes on too long, it'll kill you. :_______________________________________________________________ : :I asked you to that meeting to hear your opinion.You barely said a word. :Michael Iturbi:In that room, my opinion would have only made me less popular than I already am. : :You have a different theory about Eros? :Michael Iturbi: Different, yeah. More like radical. : : This is not a time to keep these things to yourself. :Michael Iturbi: The problem with Colonel Janus, as a scientist, I mean, his personality disorders are obvious, but his problem is that he lacks imagination. It's true. He can only conceive the world in terms of things he's already seen. : : His job is to explain science to politicians.In that regard, it's a useful skill. :Michael Iturbi: But it's of no use here. Eros Station was under quarantine, the result of a mysterious bio-weapon unleashed by Mars, which Mars believes was unleashed by us, which we did not Did we?. : : We did not. :Michael Iturbi: Ah, I never doubted that for a moment. Suddenly, Eros, the entire asteroid, moves In a way that practically defies every single known law of physics. Now, Janus thinks that means there's a new Martian weapon, some staggering breakthrough on an incredible scale of a technology they've been pursuing utterly unsuccessfully for years.But ask yourself this question Does it make any sense at all that Mars would want to test their ground-breaking technology in a bio-hazard zone, that they themselves created? : : I suppose not. :Michael Iturbi: So what if this bio-weapon isn't a bio-weapon after all? What if it is responsible in some way we can't yet fully understand, for Eros moving? I believe Eros was infected by an entirely new order of technology, something from somewhere else, somewhere beyond the reach of our species.I believe the Eros incident was our first contact with alien life. : : I have a file with 900 pages of analysis, and contingency plans for war with Mars, including 14 different scenarios about what to do, if they develop an unexpected new technology. My file for what to do if an advanced alien species comes calling? It's three pages long, and it begins with, "Step one: find God." :Michael Iturbi: I need to get to Venus. You can pull the strings and get me on that ship.I will be your eyes and your ears, I'll be your own private back channel to everything we find, unfiltered by Janus and Errinwright. Please, let me prove I'm right. :_____________________________________________________________ : : This is all the telemetry on the nukes the UN launched against Eros. : : They detonated them after they lost target lock. That makes sense.That's what the abort codes are for. : : Yeah, except nearly 30 of them kept on going, long after all the others aborted. : : Where are they now? : :That's the million-dollar question.Well, I got no clue. The Roci lost track of 'em when we were chasing Eros. : : Oh... : : Right? Megatons of thermonuclear ordinance, state-of-the-art guidance systems, and, somehow, 30 of them didn't get that self-destruct message. They just kept on going. Who knows where. Kind of an unsettling thought, don't you think? Yeah, it is. :_____________________________________________________________ : : You'd think helping to save Earth would balance things out, but the Mormons don't think like that. They've filed a lawsuit over the Nauvoo against the Tycho Corporation and myself. Basically, I'm in some deep shit. : : Well, we have one more thing for you to worry about.These aren't rock-hopper mining nukes. These are planet busters. Designed to evade the best defense systems.If the wrong person picks 'em up, it could be a problem. : : Especially if they're smart enough to remove the countermeasures.The missiles could be re-targeted, and sent right back at the Inners, or anyone else in the system, for that matter. : : This doesn't seem to be bothering you. Why is that? : : Because I've got the missiles. : : After the UN gave us guidance control, our techs were able to lock out some of the abort codes and override the drives.We scooped 'em up and brought 'em back to Tycho, inside gas freighters and ore ships.We could use some help removing the countermeasures. : : What are you planning on doing with them? : : Nothing. Sometimes that's the best plan of action. : : The only thing those weapons are good for is first strike. : : Hell, they're good for a lot of things.They can be used as deterrents, or a bargaining chip. : : Earth and Mars are still in the dark about the protomolecule. We need to tell them everything we know about it. We need to tell everyone. : : And exactly what should we tell them? That it's alien technology that we barely comprehend? That would cause a system-wide panic.Until we get more information, we need to keep this under wraps. Eros changed everything. Earth and Mars are scared. And whenever that happens, Belters always lose. Our first priority is to protect ourselves. And that means, we're gonna take advantage of every edge we've got. :_____________________________________________________________ : : There shouldn't be any teams. : : That's a beautiful dream, son. And I hope I'm around to see it come true. But in this world that we live in, in order to survive, you have to pick a side. :_____________________________________________________________ : : voiceover At the rate my drive was burning, my fuel was going to last for weeks, which I have to say was amazing. Aside from the fact that I'd be dead long before then. The only thing I could do was to try to signal for help. Even though I couldn't talk, Caty would realize that I was in trouble. She'd figure out a way to help me.It was my only hope. My last chance. :_____________________________________________________________ : : I think we should let people know about Miller and Julie Mao.Not all the details, nothing about the protomolecule, just about them. A Belter and an Earther who was an OPA member, that sacrificed themselves to save the cradle of humanity. The Inners need to hear that. : : You're going to turn them into a story. : : A love story.Might help cool things down a bit. : : Because narrowly avoiding an extinction-level event, apparently wasn't enough. : : I want people to know about Miller.He was a good man. : : He was a pain-in-the-ass, suicidal ex-cop, who got the job done. Okay, I'll do it. :_____________________________________________________________ : : Fred saw what the protomolecule did to Eros, and now he's going to squeeze every ounce of information out of Cortazar's head to figure out how it works. He wants to control it. : : Fred's trying to protect the Belt. : : Or so he claims. It's too dangerous to leave our sample out there anymore.We have to destroy it. : : Here's another option.We can give our sample to Mars. : : What? : : Think about it. They're the only players in this whole goddamn game that didn't do any of the bad stuff. : : They nuked Phoebe. : : No.They saw something real nasty going on down there, and they just wanted to keep Earth out of it. : : Or keep what they found there a secret. : : You don't know what the hell you're talking about as usual. Anyways, Mars has the best scientists in the system. If anyone can think of something good to do with that shit, it's them. : : Since when has Mars done anything that wasn't in the interests of Mars? : : They saved our lives, for starters. : : If any side believes they have a strategic advantage by using the protomolecule, then eventually someone will.And then we're going to have another Eros or worse. The only way to prevent that is to destroy it. All of it. While we still can. : Dresden wasn't working alone. Do you seriously believe we've got the only remaining sample in the system? : : We just might.When Dresden's people lost the Anubis, it stopped the project dead in its tracks.Which tells me, protomolecule samples aren't easy to come by.We vaporized the Anubis.Phoebe, the original source was destroyed.We broke Dresden's station down to the bolts, nothing was there.And Eros burned up in Venus.We're this close to getting rid of it, once and for all. : : We should kill it.Drive it into the goddamn sun. : : It's the only way. :_____________________________________________________________ : : voiceover Sooner or later, it happens to us all.Me, you, everyone we love.Maybe you see it coming.Maybe it surprises you.But in a sustained high-G burn, what usually kills you is a stroke. Lying there, on my death bed, all I could think about was "What happens next?" I'd never give Caty a child.But she had the plans for my drive. They'd make her rich for the rest of her life. Because with my drive, the Epstein Drive, Mars would be able to move outward. Mine the asteroids. Colonize the Belt. And remake the Solar System. My drive would give us the edge we needed to finally break free from Earth. And build a new world for ourselves. That's the wonderful and terrible thing about technology. It changes everything :_____________________________________________________________ :Sa'id: Those UN grunts are definitely loaded for bear. :_____________________________________________________________ : : You in the mood to talk? : : What about? About the friends we choose to keep. : : Like Jules-Pierre Mao. : : He's a good man, Chrisjen. : : Maybe he was, once. But it's quite clear now that he was involved with Eros. : : We have no proof that that's the case. : : His own daughter was working with the OPA to stop him. : : So you really believe that he was trying to destroy the Earth? Is that right? : : He was playing with powers he couldn't control. Have you had any contact with him? : : No, I have no idea where he is. : :We need to know what he knows.You should convince him to come in from the cold. : :How am I supposed to do that? : :He trusts you.And if he helps us, he can keep a semblance of the life he's always known : :You're really willing to cut him a deal? : :Yes. And for anyone who could help us understand what we're dealing with.We both know how the world works.When the stakes are this high, many things are possible. : :I can reach out to his family. :_____________________________________________________________ : : He has two sons, and another daughter that he adores.They'll be able to reach him.Maybe they can help him turn himself in. : : Good. And, please, let them know that if they can't I will rain hellfire down on them all.I will freeze their assets. Cancel their contracts. Cripple their business. And I have the power to do it, because I am the fucking hero who helped save Mother Earth from the cataclysm that Jules-Pierre Mao unleashed.Tell his children that government is more powerful than any corporation.And the only reason they think it tilts the other way is because we poor, public servants are always looking for some fat, private-sectors payoff down the road. But I'm not looking.And by the time they can pull the strings to force me out, it'll be too late. Their family will be ruined. Their mother, the children, their children, all of them, pariahs. Outlaws. Hunted and on the run for the rest of their days until we find them, and nail each and every last one to the wall. Make sure you tell them that. :_____________________________________________________________ : : Hey, Alex. : : What the hell are you doing? : : Fixing the Martian flag. : : You're defacing it, Picasso. : : I'm making it accurate. Deimos ain't a moon anymore.It's just a bunch of rock. : : That is not funny. : : I disagree. It makes me smile every time I walk past it. : :That's because you are an ignorant asshole.Seventeen Martians died in that attack! : : Do you want to do something about it? Go ahead.Take a shot. : : Hold on a second.Is this your messed up way of telling me you're sorry? : : Was it messed up? : : Jesus Christ. You don't even know why I'm mad at you, do you? : : Yeah, 'cause I took care of that guy who was kicking your ass and I made you look weak. : : Is that what you think? : : The way I see it, there's only three kinds of people in this world, bad ones, ones you follow, and ones you need to protect. : : What, so I'm the one you need to protect? Is that right? : : Yeah, there's nothing to be ashamed of. : : I let a breaching pod with 25 people get blown to pieces in order to protect you.I'm a big boy, Amos.I can fight my own battles. :_____________________________________________________________ : : I'd suggest discharging the gyros first. A lot of missiles' countermeasures trickle back-up power from the guidance systems.